Hi happy Questers, how is everyone? Did you all have wonderful Easters? I hope you enjoyed your eggs as much as I did ..... 🐣❤️
Hopefully you’ve been able to keep up with your goals, or at least make some headway into achieving them. Me? Well who’s this, doing my promised JogRunSprint stint yesterday? ..... “I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it .... when’s the next time I can do it?”! It was a ton of fun, and believe me I can’t wait for next week! People who know me will realise that’s quite a statement! 😅 Questing is fun! 👏
Often the thought of getting out the door is worse than the act itself, but we almost always enjoy it. Sometimes we need that push, and that’s why having a Quest is a wonderful thing. It keeps us all accountable and we can share our experiences. 🏃♀️🏃♂️😀
So let Dexy5 and I know how you’re getting on so far. Maybe it was hard getting back into the swing of things after the Easter break, but perhaps being back in a regular routine has helped. The weather is doing its best to confuse us, but what’s a bit more faffing with what to wear amongst friends? We’re obviously still working round covid limitations, but there’s light at the end of the tunnel ...... 🤞
In case you’re not sure this is all about, what is the Quest?
The aim of the Quest is to help you find a focus or goal that you would like to achieve by the end of the Quest period.
The Quest takes one calendar month but you can join at any point during that time.
Some popular goals are:
★ To run three times a week
★ To slowly increase distance
★ To train for a specific race
★ To add Stretch and Strength exercises to your weekly routine
So in case you want to get going now, or need reminding what your Quest was, here’s the link to last week’s post.
Good morning CC and Dexy5 . You are up and about early and obviously full of energy and joie de vivre. I deleted Jog Run Sprint last year on Dexy5's instructions on account of my then contrary knee! Moving swiftly on from JRS.......week 1 has been quite good. I decided that a kick start was needed last Thursday, and went for a 7k effort at 7:10 pace; a whole minute/k off PB pace, but my breathing and achilles were fine. This was followed by 2x 5ks at a slightly quicker pace and finally another long run (8k) yesterday at 7:08/k pace. Again breathing fine, my achilles was a bit tender to the touch immediately afterwards but all feels fine now. Oh, and I have lost two pounds. So not a bad start and no need for you two to summon my parents to deliver a poor report just yet ! Enjoy your runs/ breakfast!! 🙂
Well I’m an early bird BC - it’s unheard of for me to be this lively in the evenings! After 6pm I’m 😴😅
Yesss, what a result for you, running pain free again. 🙏🏻 What a relief that must have been. Easy does it and you’ll soon build back up. So great to hear! 😀
Oh, and deleting JRS is definitely a good thing for you. You simply wouldn’t be able to control yourself and then there’d be tears and a visit back to the IC! Unless you’ve changed your persona? Ooo, I wonder! 😅
If I did intervals I would be like Toad with a new car....beep beep!!Last year’s pattern of 4 months good running and four months IC/recovery is very plain when I look back. Only stat I am interested in at the moment is average heart rate over the same distance. It is gradually improving, so I am on the right track.
Excellent Beachcomber66- good to see you building up your running again. I’m not such an early bird, but when I’ve said I’ll be at the finish line at 1030, I’ve got to have plenty of faffing time.
Wow CBDB, you’ve certainly packed a lot in this week! 👊👏👏👏
Definitely not cheating on the Pilates front. I too enjoyed that Adriene video (Renewal wasn’t it) where she added those clams. I’ll go back to that one, it was great!
And woohoo on your 10k too! Huge achievement and one to be proud of. 💥
Of course we’ll need to see those medals when they arrive ..... love a bit of bling! 🏅
☺️ Definitely! I will need to show off those medals when they arrive! Yes, that Yoga Pilates session with clams went into my favourites folder. Clams really helped me in the past to build up knee strength! 🙏💙
Wow RW, you’re smashing your quest so far! Brilliant. 💥💥 How exciting that it’s your runniversary on Saturday. Can you believe how far you’ve come? Can you remember life before running? 😅
I hope you’ll treat us to a celebratory post so we can congratulate you and raise a glass! 🥂 🎉
I’m so thankful for running. I really started running for mental health but it has been a health improver in so many ways. Will try and write a post on Saturday. Think I’m sharing my day with CBDB ❤️🏃♀️
Parkrun? 1st runniversary? 20 miles a week? How special that is. I hope you celebrate in style RunWillie.
My original plan for April was to have no plan and not to follow any goals and to just run when I feel like it for how long I feel like. Turns out I absolutely don't function without a plan. So I returned more or less to my plan for March.
April's plan is:
- run 30 minutes on weekdays
- increase my weekend run with 5 minutes every week / every other week until I reach 10K
- always keep 1 rest day between 2 runs
- don't run in nasty weather
- don't feel bad if you can't run for some reason
Oh and I entered the Virtual Ten Miles of Antwerp, but for the 6 km race, not the 10 miles. I'm far from 10 miles yet. Should they have had 10 km, I might have tried that. But it's 6 km or 10 miles. I have to run it 24 or 25th of April at a certain time and an app will give information where I am so called running in Antwerp and what I would see. I get a shirt and a running belt for my entry. Seen as I have as good as run 7 km (6.92 km) last weekend, 6 km won't be an issue.
Having a plan does help us get out the door, and your quest looks good to me BlackScorpian. You’ll have no problem with your virtual 6km. Especially if there’s a reward at the end.
Allowing sufficient time for recovery is hard when, like me, you don't have much patience. My long run with TailChaser last week took a couple of days to recover from and the struggle I had with my Notparkrun on the Sunday suggested another day might have been a good idea. I was then on a bike on the Monday and got very cold so have taken two more days to recover from that. Hoping tonight's long run will be ok. My daily yoga has also been a bit interrupted this week with only 5 days out of 7. My mantra going forward is "Listen to your body!".
It’s a great mantra Shakes. No need to be a hero. 🏃♀️
Your 10k was amazing and I bet you’re still buzzing from that. It’s very natural to feel it afterwards, but your body will acclimatise. I remember the first time I did HM. My quads!!! 😩 They simply weren’t used to being out for so long. Now they don’t care!
Yoga will be waiting for you too whenever you can roll out the mat, no worries. 🧘♀️
still building up to run continuously for 10k, but TailChaser is supporting/coaching me. Tonight we hope to extend my time/ distance a little closer to the target.
* Run every other day (where possible), even if it's just a short easy jog. Running more often occasionally if I feel like it.
Definitely doing that! I had an unplanned "run every day" spurt last week, including a 10km and a hilly 5km run in the middle, with no problems. The weather helped and I really enjoyed getting a short run in at the start of a day.
* Make sure I walk on any day I don't run, even if I don't feel like it.
Definitely keeping up with that one.
* Enjoy running in the mornings again (which I do).
The weather has made that less pleasant this week, but I did get out on Tuesday morning. I was going out this morning, including getting fully kitted up, but the procrastination gremlin got me.
* Avoid injury. Notice when something is more than a minor niggle.
Good so far!
* Run a total of 100km in the month again. I've succeeded in this the last two months
On track for this.
* Increase distance gradually. I reached 10 miles in March.
I'm planning to repeat the 10 mile run this Sunday, all being well.
* Achieve a half marathon near the end of the month. (Me from a year ago would consider that both insane and impossible.)
I've revised this to being a week later. I made a mistake in my calculations. I need to be sensible.
* Don't overdo it. Be sensible. Know my limits. Nothing is worth hurting yourself.
Too right it’s going well nowster! You’re on a roll! Isn’t it fun treating yourself to a run just because you feel like it? I’ve been running for nearly 3 years and now feel confident enough to pick and choose when to go out regardless of rest days - but I’m fortunate in that I’m not prone to injury (touch wood!)
Enjoy your 10 miles and keep your eyes on the HM prize. You’re so close. 👊👏😀
Hi Cheeky, today was my real week 1 questing day, a solo (not) parkrun with a target time of 25'30" (hopefully 25'00"!) after the jog-run-sprint games with Dexy5 on Tuesday. Started well but a weird nagging feeling across the front of both hips caused me to come down to a walk after 700m or so -- almost stopped, but instead first tried a gentle jog which went OK, and then got back up to 5'00"/k by the 1k mark, reached in 5'20". Pushed on a bit (too much) to recover some time, and got to halfway in 12'36", and 3k in 15'11", but didn't have anything left for the last 2k into the wind and subsided to a "not very good but not too bad considering" 26'08". Hmmm .....
This week I'll be having a go at my "go further at 5'30"/k pace" target as my quest run. 8k at least, surely?
Hi UTS, hmmm, lucky you’re a smart cookie and slowed down when you felt the niggle. We don’t need you on the IC, that’s for sure. 👎
Even so, 26:08? You are a lynx. Wait - are they fast? Maybe I should stick to our old friend the gazelle! I’m sure you’ll achieve your target warp speed!
Good luck with your longer run. I have nothing to say about maintaining 5:30 except 💥💥💥💥💥 Goooo Stanley! 🏃♂️🏃♂️🏃♂️🏃♂️
Ooh for a not very good 26:08...... You’ll soon be back in the gym strengthening those leg and hip muscles, and I’m sure you’ll meet those targets.
My quest was to consolidate. I managed to get 3 runs in last week, but having to take a sabbatical this week as away babysitting. Am managing to fit in my strength and flexibility exercises though.
Yesss Baddie! That’s fantastic. Both running and planking will contribute to your fitness and general well-being, and it’s great discipline too. So go you! 👊
You know you’ve got to do it when it’s a quest Baddie! Redoing C25K like you are is not only building up your body again without risk to injury, but your coach is expecting you to get out 3 days a week. Also, looking at your original quest, the more running you do, the less days you have to do planks - win win
So week 1 has gone well. I’m off work so everything seems so much easier as I have more time and energy. My quest to get to 10k is now at 8k 👍🏻
I just find I get bored on the longer runs. My breathing and body are fine but I struggle to keep my mind occupied. I don’t think longer runs are for me once I’ve achieved 10k ?????
I’m chipping away at my walk / run 75k in April. I’m currently at 37.66k which seems like I’m well on target 🎯
I’ve managed to complete a mile walk everyday with my hubby for Strides against Stress. 👍🏻
I’m thoroughly enjoying COGH and have just contributed my 1 hundredth km 😁
Well I think the first week went pretty well, with some slight modifications...1) walk or run 5K every day...✅ ok yesterday was a faff with tech problems 🙄 meant to be a short run, with walking to bring to 5K... ended up around 4.8...
BUT...
2) achieved 10K steps everyday 🙌🏼
3) daily yoga ✅ although I switched out last night’s for a quick 7 minute one..
4) average time in bed 7:26...latest bedtime 00:35...work in progress...
Not so good...no regular other S&F...and I have a shed load of stuff to log on to COGH and S&F...
....that will have to wait as I need to ‘yoga’ so I can go to bed! 😂
I may need to dial it back actually...5k every day is a lot! Just worked out that I was probably doing no more than 30k in a week on the final weeks of M. Plan...that’s assuming I walked every non run day...
So...may cut back to 3K/2 miles...my knee is *very* niggly today, I’m not sure if that’s down to a day vaccinating...standing up/sitting down every few minutes...Or not!🤷🏻♀️
I keep forgetting to reply to this 🙄 but here I am at last. * First up was to consolidate my 10k by running 3 this month well on Sunday I completed my first of the month and it was a PB for me as well 😊
* Second was to run 60k over the month so far I've done around 19k, but I think I'll have to lower my goal for this one you'll see why later on.....
* Third was to continue with my daily squats and plank routines, I'm now up to 40 second plank and 15 second side plank so I'm really happy with that.
* Lastly was to do 3 knee strength workouts a week which I've done this week. But the last few days I've been having a niggle at the top of my leg just below my buttock ☹️ I've spent the afternoon googling and think it maybe periformis syndrome? So I think that needs fixing and knees will have to have a bit less attention for a bit.
Oh and I also got my first sub 40 minute 5k on Wednesday 🎉🎈🎊
So overall a good week except for the pain in the bum 😂🤣
What a fantastic lot of achievements dijep! Multiple 10ks including a PB? Awesome. 💥 And they’re mighty impressive plank and side plank stats. 💪 👊
Are you able to see your GP or a sports physio for confirmation of what your niggle might be? Hopefully it’s nothing serious and you can crack on pain free and achieve all your goals! Keep us posted 😀🤞
It’s time I reported into the Quest! Indeed, Dexy5 reminded me that after my run today, I must post! My hip still isn’t right but it’s no worse when running than it is when I walk; in fact as I naturally run with quite a short stride, it’s a little easier. So in the rebuild to 5k , I thought I’d give 3k a try this morning. Bit chilly out there I thought but once I’d actually started trotting it wasn’t too bad. Headed into a slight easterly breeze for part of the way along a very busy prom and I saw a fair number of people I recognise from parkrun. It took me 30 minutes to do 3K so I’ve lost what little pace I had and am back to my C25k speed, the difference being that 3k now feels like a short run whereas it previously felt like a marathon! I’m giving myself 2 days between runs so it’s back to the physio’s exercises for the next 2 days and we’ll see what happens after that. Happy running fellow Questers!
Well that’s good OGR. 3k is a good run, and the fact it didn’t feel far was great. Also good that your hip is no worse when running, so you can carry on carefully I should imagine. 😀
That plus your exercises will see you building back up nicely, all ready for the lovely months to come. ☀️🏃♀️😍
That’s about the same pace I was doing in my struggles just before the injury so we will soon be able to hobble along together. I am hoping the swimming pool works wonders on my hip flexibility and therefore pace. Preferably before my son sees me hobbling around again.
Not running at present due to a (hopefully minor) hamstring strain. But only 2 more sleeps to FIRST SWIM in 4 months. I am ridiculously excited. Then it’s off to get the hair (or more precisely the fluff ball) cut. One more sleep after that and it’s the first meal outside the Briny. Two more sleeps after that and it’s proper breakfast with the gang outside SBC. Not sure I will have time for a run even if my leg gets better in time.
I can't even quite remember if I set my goals formally last week! But they were to continue my daily walk or run and to do yoga on at least 16 days.
Well the yoga has slid again although that is partly a technical issue with the app I use for classes - the goal is still within my grasp so it will have to be the art of the possible rather than necessary the yoga I most want to do. The running seems to have run off this month so far but the walking is happening. It's great for the soul to get outside and move every day - even if just for 15 minutes or so and still exploring lots of new places. I am wondering if I need to re-think though as it is really taking it out of me and so very little else is happening.
Hi GM! One think you don’t want to do is end up stressing about achieving your goals. Rethinking them is a great idea, and maybe you’ll find adapting your expectations will make what you are able to do more fun!
So, what with the distractions of Easter, and tending to the culinary whims of a poorly goat, I seem to have completely lost track of my April questing goals. Which is maybe not a bad thing. It has stopped me getting hung up on my sense of foreboding that I would never get past week 4 of the 60 minute plan. But I did! Last week I completed my second set of 20, 30, 50 minute runs without so much as a twinge from my delicate hamstring. And this week? Well it looks as though I will be making do with a few short runs as most of my spare time is taken up with pandering to the whims of a particularly fussy goaty invalid (who likes his fruit and vegetables chopped just so, and his fresh green shoots gathered before the morning dew has dried 🙄)...maybe not such a bad thing...an easy week for my running legs will hopefully stop me from getting carried away and overdoing it 🤔? Oh, and I am trying to smile when I do my exercises..although if I had a mirror I suspect it may look more like a grimace 😅. Early days!!
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It's the final week of the Daisy Fresh April Quest!!! 🌼🌼🌼
Don’t be a fool be cool 😎 April Quest week 1. Come and join in 💥
